Toronto With A Teenager: Living On The Edge (Literally)

The author, left, and her son Carter, second from left, lean back over the edge of CN Tower in Toronto - the world's highest hands-free walk with no guard rail.

The author, left, and her son Carter, second from left, lean back over the edge of CN Tower in Toronto - the world's highest hands-free walk with no guard rail. (Courtesy of Teresa M. Pelham)

TERESA M. PELHAM

“Mom, we need to park these things and walk. We’re going to die out here!”

In theory, the bicycle-sharing systems being launched in many cities (including Hartford) are brilliant: Pay by the trip, the day, three days or annually, and ride a bike from point A to point B without having to worry about storing or maintaining it.

And since The Teenager and I were not at all familiar with Toronto’s public transportation system, Bike Share Toronto seemed like the perfect way for us to get from our hotel to the downtown attractions we planned to visit. But in reality, the cut-short bike ride from hell took several years off our lives, given aggressive taxi, Lyft and Uber drivers trying to do their jobs in a hurry. Without benefit of designated bike lanes, many parts of the city were simply not appropriate for bicycles.

Aside from this near-death experience, Toronto now ranks at the top of the list of cities he and I have visited together. It’s super-clean, friendly and amazingly diverse. And no knowledge of the French language is required.

HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP/Getty Images

The city of Toronto, Canada.

The city of Toronto, Canada. (HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP/Getty Images)

We impulsively decided to fly to Toronto, rather than take the eight-hour drive, since I’d recently spent too many hours of my life behind the wheel of my Subaru. We took a direct flight from Bradley Airport, and landed in about two hours.

I’d heard that the peameal bacon sandwich was the one thing we needed to try. Traveling with a picky teenager, however, we ate at the same pizza place — Boston Pizza — three of our four nights in the city and got our Tim Horton’s fix every morning. If I wanted to try different foods, I’d have to do it alone (which I did).

Christopher Elliott

A peameal bacon sandwich from the Carousel Bakery in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market.

A peameal bacon sandwich from the Carousel Bakery in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market. (Christopher Elliott)

We spent way more time at the bustling St. Lawrence Market than we’d planned, tasting local foods (well, I did) and buying things we didn’t need from friendly, non-pushy vendors. Other can’t-miss stops included the Distillery District (even if you’re not a drinker, there are some cool vintage shops to check out) and Chinatown, vibrant both day and night.

We visited pretty much every park in Toronto, since the kiddo is still an active Pokemon Go trainer, and parks are where it all happens, he says. Parks are where everything else happens here, too. At lunchtime, you’ll see strangers sharing a bench, and people of all ages listening to live music, even on a weekday. We loved the small Berczy Park in Toronto’s downtown for its fountain featuring sculptures of 27 dogs and a cat, and a water trough for thirsty dogs.

The city is a beautiful mosaic of ethnicities. Couples of all types hold hands. Men know how to wear a suit. (Seriously, if you still own pleated suit pants, get rid of them today.) Toronto’s Marshall’s is even an enjoyable experience, with actual space between racks. We’re not the only ones heading north to vacation: 43.7 million people visited the city last year.

Because The Teenager needs to put in at least an hour or two each day playing Sea of Thieves, I’m often left to my own devices, which usually means a solo trip to a local bar. Remember: The people here are friendly. I’m never drinking alone. Right around the corner from our hotel was the Duke of Somerset, run by nice people who are more than happy to ask me how much I spend on health care, and brag that they pay nothing. I had my torn rotator cuff diagnosis confirmed by the bartender/physiotherapist (who couldn’t believe how much I’m about to pay for my surgery).

CN Tower

Most visitors to CN Tower — a 1,815-foot tall communications and observation tower — take the ear-popping elevator to the observation deck, where they can safely look through glass at the city below and try to figure out how to take a picture of a loved one in front of a window. Or they enjoy a meal at 360 The Restaurant at CN Tower, 1,150 feet in the air. (We skipped it: The Ontario chicken Ballotine with Quebec foie gras would have been wasted on my fellow traveler.)

A smaller percentage of the 2 million yearly visitors take it up a notch and lean over the edge of the tower — the world’s highest hands-free walk, with no guard rail — simply because they can. If you have a strong stomach and are looking for something impressive to post on your Facebook page or dating profile, this is for you.

The entire Edge Walk experience took about an hour and a half, including putting on and taking off the safety gear, removing all jewelry and listening to the guides get us even more nervous than when we arrived. The first walk to the edge was completely insane, but as our enthusiastic guide brought us around the tower and led us to the edge several more times to do even crazier moves — like leaning forward and trusting the harnesses — it actually became enjoyable.

Edge Walkers are treated a bit like astronauts, with a rowdy send-off and video streaming on monitors throughout the building. The best part: Leaning back and looking up to wave to the normal people above.

The tower even has a Connecticut connection: The 335-foot steel broadcasting antenna was installed by a 10-ton Sikorsky helicopter. Built by Canadian National Railways in 1976, the tower has programmable LED architectural lighting that’s changed regularly to coincide with special events and charities. The day we arrived, the tower was lighted at sunset to mark Gastroschisis Awareness Day, and switched to yellow, red and green during our last night, celebrating the Toronto Caribbean Carnival Celebration.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada

The thought of sharing small, dark spaces with thousands of children has never really appealed to me, but I’ve got a fish-loving kid, so I’ve been to aquariums in pretty much every city we’ve visited. So why did it take me this long to figure out that the best time to go to an aquarium (or any kid-centered place, really) is after 5 p.m.?

Roberto Machado Noa / LightRocket via Getty Images

An underwater passageway inside Ripley's Aquarium. The awe-inspiring aquarium showcases marine and freshwater habitats from around the world.

We saw the whole interactive museum in about an hour, which left us plenty of time to cross the street and return to the CN Tower. Admission to the Edge Walk allows participants re-entry to the tower one more time over the three days following a walk. We took the speedy elevator first to the 114 story LookOut level, surprisingly crowded with families you’d think would be back at their hotels, and then to the 147-story skypod observation floor to watch the sunset.

Niagara Falls

Just across from Lake Ontario — which is so big that we kept forgetting it wasn’t an ocean — is Niagara Falls. We booked a tour, and were picked up and dropped off at our hotel. We liked talking with a group of British guys on holiday, who were eager to talk to us about our president and the Royal Wedding.

Our excellent driver got us to the falls nice and early, and predicted that in two hours the place would be packed. No joke. By noon the sidewalks were crowded with people using selfie sticks to capture themselves in front of the falls. Were they afraid to ask another person to take a picture?

Niagara Falls Tourism

Horseshoe Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Horseshoe Falls, Ontario, Canada. (Niagara Falls Tourism)

Yes, the Canadian falls are much better than the American falls, but both are worth a visit. We skipped the Maid of the Mist boat tour, since we weren’t interested in feeling — as our guide put it — like wet sardines. We made a few quick stops on our way back, including a visit to Lakeview Winery, which makes the best ice wine I’ve tasted. Our winery guide told us that she and her co-workers receive a phone call in the middle of the night during the first frost of the season, because the grapes need to picked within a few hours.

Our long day ended with a dip in the hotel pool, buzzing with young women comparing outrageous costume ideas for the the next day’s Caribbean Carnival, and our final visit to Boston Pizza, one of 388 locations in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., none of which are actually anywhere near Boston.

Teresa M. Pelham is a Farmington-based writer. Contact her at tpelham@comcast.net.